"One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. Thanks to my beautiful friend Kristen I stated a journey with this lady and her thankfulness a few months ago with her daily blog and now her book. Wow! If only I could write like her, could pen words like she does. She goes on a journey of thankfulness to find beauty and Christ in her daily life, and she does.
I close the book and I think of the walk I took that morning. The morning was crisp and the coat was zipped tight. My Marmee was by my side and I was pushing an empty stroller. The toddler was running ahead of me grasping a blue leash tight in his small fist. He was giggling. The 13 year old puppy was taking the 2 year old boy for a walk. We laughed as he looked back, pure joy streaming his face. Another squeal escaped and he was pulled along into the grass.
I close the book and I wait for the toddler to wake. We pull coats on again and open the door. I want to look, truly look for the blessings. An old man, stooped and bent, whistles loud and clear ahead of us as he walks. My hurried steps slow down to his pace, not wanting to miss. His melody is the same four notes, he whistles, looking left and right, up and down, taking in the world. Two boys in blue run across the road, one somersaults to the grass and the whistler pauses, looking at them. I see a grin on his wrinkled face and wonder what he is thinking, remembering. We pass a retirement home where the whistler stops his walk. As I walk by I see a man sitting in his chair with a cigarette, in goes the smoke, out comes the cough. I smile at him, wishing I could sit in the sister chair and talk away the afternoon. His story, his regrets, his love.
I think back to my week, three wonderful visits from friends in my little house in the prairie. Tea and talk, prayers and laughs.
I think of visits with my godson and his mother, my Jordan Ann, nothing is so humbling as knowing a girl since twirling dresses and paper dolls, and still have her love.
My husband, jumping out of bed every morning before me, sometimes making the bed over me to wake me. The joy and laughs he gives me each day, forgiveness. The times I've teased him and seen his mock scowl.
A journal sitting at home, with the start of my thank you scribbles.
I think of the two verses that God gave me this day-
"The LORD will fight for you, you need only to be still." Exodus 14:14
"...arise my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. See! The winter is past, the rains are over and gone." song of Solomon 2:10-11
They weren't verses I stumbled upon while reading the Bible, though that happens daily. They were verses GIVEN to me, spoken in the silence of my heart when I called out to Him. Words memorized years ago. And I am reminded to keep these words of the Bible hidden in my heart, pressed upon my soul, to memorize, to quote, God is near when I so desperately need Him.
The blessings have been there all the time, the whistler would have whistled, the somersaulter would have bounced back up, the verses would have stayed in the pages instead of my heart. But I looked, I sought, and I found.
I am being romanced by my Savior in this journey of thankfulness.
Later that night the rain falls on my upturned face
I say Thank You.
